Open House at the Cottonmill Studios

This Saturday, April 17, my studio building is having a spring open house from 10-6. There are painters, potters, and even a flute maker. Stop by and check out what we've been up to! If you haven't seen my encaustics, this would be a great time to learn about this new medium for me.

PORTFOLIO: Christine Dougherty | citizen-times.com | Asheville Citizen-Times

PORTFOLIO: Christine Dougherty | citizen-times.com | Asheville Citizen-Times

I was recently featured in the local paper, in the Artist Profile section. Click link to see article.
Update: this link is no longer good, it is now in the archives.

Little Dotty Bee

Here is another little encaustic painting. It is only 4x4 inches, and I wanted to keep the design simple. I carved out the bee design after layering up several layers, including the drips (dots). Then I filled the bee in with brown and layered it with white and then scraped back the white to expose the bee and other layers. Fun with wax.

Encaustics

This is one of my early attempts at encaustic painting (painting with pigmented wax). The bee was drawn on tracing paper and imbedded into the wax with a layer of translucent wax over it. That came after several tries to carve/draw the bee into the wax itself. It is a fun but very different medium for me, and I am excited by the possibilities.

New Shop open

I have just opened up shop on 1000 Markets, a new venue for artisan businesses. Click on the link to the right and check it out! I have put originals and giclee' prints on it, and their whole site is very well produced. Let me know what you think.

Hercules Beetle

This is the latest in my bug series. It is a giant hercules beetle, done as a commission. The beetle really was huge, and a lot of fun to paint.

Grant Recipient

I am the proud recipient of a Regional Artist Project Grant! My project will be to explore the medium of encaustics and to use some of my own beeswax from my bees in the paintings I create. The other part of this is to raise awareness of the importance of bees to our food chain, and how they are in decline. I have already done a bee portrait, and plan to incorporate more bee imagery into these new works. So check in often to see the progress!
This program is funded, in part, by a Regional Artist Project Grant of the North Carolina Arts Council, a state agency, and the Asheville Area Arts Council.